Launching and trial apparatus for aerial craft.



No. 893,647. PATENTED JULY 21, 1908.

E. J. PENNINGTON.

LAUNGHING AND TRIAL APPARATUS FOR AERIAL CRAFT.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 22, 1904.

EDWARD J. PENNINGTON, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

LAUNCHIN G AND TRIAL APPARATUS FOR AERIAL CRAFT.

Specification of Letters Patent Patented July 21, 1908.

Application filed January 22, 1904. Serial No. 190,179.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. PENNING- ToN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Launching and Trial Apparatus for Aerial Craft, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

My invention is intended, more especially, for use with aerial craft not provided with gas or buoyancy chambers and which are dependent for flotation in the atmosphere upon the operation of aero lanes, wings or other sustaining media. I is obvious that difliculties and grave dangers must attend the launching,-andthe experimental and other trials of such vessels, inasmuch as their operativeness cannot be safely determined until they are elevated from the earth or fairly launched, and that any accident to the machinery, or imperfect construction in the vessel itself, or other causes, may result in the destruction of the vessel and loss oflife. Therefore, I have devised means whereby the vessel may be put in motion, and its operativeness and that of itsmachinery fully proved while protected from injury or destruction in the event of any failure in its machinery or structural parts.

My invention relates, first, to a structure from which the vessel may be suspended at a desired distance from theearth and its ele-.

vating and propelling machinery put in motion, so that the correctness of the principles of construction involved, and the efliciency of its machinery, may be fully tested before the vessel isreleased for flight.

My invention also relates to means whereby, during the experimental tests of the ves.

- leased from the point of suspension.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a view. iii-elevation illustrating my invention.

' i Fig. 2 is a plan'indicating the course taken by I 3 and 4 show details the vessel in motion while suspended. Figs.

Similar numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the respective figures.

'l1 are towers or masts which may be of any approved construction or design and which may be braced by means of wire ropes or guys 22 or otherwise. The space between the towers or masts 1 is occupied by a suitable support 3, preferably a stout wire rope, or it may be a trussed structure or otherwise adapted to the purpose.

4 is a central suspending device preferably furnished with a sheave or wheel 5.

'6 may re resent in a general way an aerial vessel which is suspended from the support 3 by a rope 7 which passes over the sheave or wheel 5 and may be led to one of the masts passing over a sheave 8 down to near the ase' of the mast, and there secured. Between the vessel 6 and the suspending rope 7 is inserted a device 9 in the nature of a scales or weighing medium.

The vessel 6 being ready for operation, whether experimental or otherwise-is lifted "to the required height from the earth by drawing on the suspending rope 7, and maintained at the proper elevation. The weight of the vessel havlng been previously ascertained, it will be indicated upon the dial 12 of the weighing device 9 and when the vessel .is stationary, or is actually suspended 1 e. not in whole or in part selfsupporting, that weight will continue to be soihdicated.

The engine of the vessel having been started, the vessel will, begin to move in a spiral track, describing lines as indicated in Fig. 2. A true circle will finally be described, and the vessel may nowbe kept in motion, moving around this circle until its operativeness and that of its machinery is satisfactorily established, when the vessel may be released by detaching it from the suspending ro e 7. In order to ermit such detachment, ooks 10, 11 or their equivalent, are provided, connecting, respectively, the rope 7 with the vessel; and to ermit the lifting of the vessel to the required height for the testing purpose, the winding mechanism 12 is provided at the foot of a mast. By means of the wei hing device the operator will be enabled to etermine whether the vessel, when "attached to the rope 7 and in motion, is exerting its full weight upon the rope or is being gradually lifted by its own machinery, a lessening of the weight originally indicated upon the dial stationary vesselinforming the operator the extent to which it is sustained by the y invention is capable of variation in arrangement and construction, but it is essen-. tial that the vessel shall, during ex erimental tests-while in motion, be suspen ed from a fixed object.

It is not essential tomy invention that there should be used the weighing and registering device serving to indicate'the extent to which the moving vessel is self-supporting, although I tion with t e vessel and its supporting devices.

It will be understood that there may be more than one connection made between the suspending rope and the vessel, that being determined by the size and construction of the latter. The structure herein described may also be used for anchoring the vessel during ex erimental trial, or at the end of a trip, all t at is necessary to this end being that it shall be steered to a position enablin the suspending rope or ropes to be reattache to said vessel.

Having thus described my invention, I

' ing said vessel, means for weighmg catin the decreased weight of e moving -,vess'e as it becomess'eli-supporting, and derefer to use the same in connec-.

tachin means, said weighing and detaching means 'eing interposed between the suspending meansand the vessel and adjacent to the latter so to be capable of observation and operation by the navigator, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a air of towers or masts erected a suitable istance apart, a

support connecting the tops of said towers or masts, a suspending device centrally attached to said support and carrying a sheave or Wheel, a suspendin rope extending from the foot of one of sai towers or masts upward and over said sheave, aself-propelling aerial vessel supported by said suspendinlg1 rope, a winding mechanism employed wit said suspending rope for raising and lowering said vessel, weighing means inserted between the suspending rope and said vessel and ad- EDWARD J. PENNINGTON'.

Witnesses:

C. C. WISE,

S. T. BRooKs. 

